The #1 Critical Ingredient in All Successful Marketing

• DateOctober 24, 2016
• AuthorLeah Swearingen
• Categories
  • Featured

“Can I trust you?”

This is the central question on any prospect’s mind. No one is going to hire you if they don’t trust you. Even previously satisfied clients and referral partners may look elsewhere if their confidence in your abilities has dwindled.

Yet, millions if not billions are wasted on ineffective marketing campaigns because they don’t address the trust factor.

Before investing serious money on various marketing initiatives, it’s important to revisit where you currently stand with these three pillars of trust:

• Integrity. Integrity is the foundation of trust. It’s doing what you say you will do. It’s keeping promises and walking the talk.  If you tell a client you will call them the next day and you don’t, that is a broken promise. If you tell a valued referral partner that you will set up a lunch meeting in the next two weeks and don’t, you risk being seen as flaky.  And people tend to pay very close attention to these little promises.  Far better not to promise anything than to make a promise and not keep it.
• Displaying competence. If you don’t appear to have a solid grasp on your area of expertise, how can I trust you? Any marketing program should provide ample evidence of your command of your field. Think presentations and speeches, written articles, shared expert articles online, and more.
• Putting clients and the public first. If I don’t have the sense that you have my best interests at heart, how can I ever fully trust you? One simple way to demonstrate this is by helping clients save money, educate them, or steer them away from services they don’t really need. This sends a powerful message that the clients’ interests are above your own.

 Building trust is essential to any successful marketing effort.

Like many important things in life, professional relationships often come with a hidden expiration date. Being considered trustworthy is key to any long term relationship. Trust is an invaluable asset, and chief among character traits. It’s also what can keep you and your business progressing, growing stronger, and becoming more profitable.